policy direct hi impacts your wallet -- directly impacts the wallet at the pumps. we will talk to him in a few moments. >> plus elizabeth mcdonald will be here with a story all investors need to hear. find out what the tax man has in store for you and what you can do about it now. >> time for stocks now as we do every 15 minutes. let's head to the floor of the new york stock exchange, our own nicole petallides is standing by and stocks are searching for direction. nicole: they really are. right now the dow jones industrials are down about 40 points. so that's -- we've seen some accelerated selling, down 1/3 of 1%. the tech heavy nasdaq has been squeezing out a gain most of the day here, up just over 2 points. the s&p 500 is down 1/3 of 1% much like the dow jones industrials. a couple of things to factor in are some of the big global industrial type companies have been giving outlooks that are tepid and cautious and caterpillar would be one of those names. we talk about caterpillar here

as a global economic indicator. they see obviously a tough 2013. they talk about it being choppy in the first half. for this year 2012 they have lowered their numbers. again, this is the second time they have put out a cautionary tone and having to change the numbers. they said maybe in the back of 2013. so that sort of feels like a long time to wait. everybody wants some numbers here and now. we did see the stock move here to the down side, but it has recovered and moved back into the green, so it's up 1 1/4%. but this comes on the heels of other dow companies that came out with some tough numbers last week including mcdonald's and general electric. back to you. >> nicole thank you very much. >> it's been a rough week for solar companies. a judge confirming solyndra's bankruptcy plan earlier today despite protests from the government which stands to lose about half a billion dollars invested in that company. so this comes after two more companies subsidized by the energy department of our government filed for bankruptcy protection last week. peter barnes bringing us up-to-date from washington. peter? peter: that's right, lori. one of those companies is based

in boston. it's just the latest to go bust. the list includes the infamous solyndra which left taxpayers on the hook for 528 million in federal loan guarantees. satcon has been approved for 3 million dollars in energy department grants but had gotten only about 200,000 of that cash. the solar industry is undergoing a major shakeout in consolidation and it may barely survive in the u.s., even with government help. it's been brutalized in recent years by falling prices oversupply and competition from china which continues to invest heavily on solar. >> the global solar market can't support 600, you know, solar module manufacturers today, and so what you are going to see is companies in europe and the the u.s. and china and other places who can't compete go out of business. peter: a green tech research firm gtm research sees another 180 solar panel companies alone going out of business or being

acquired by 2015. 27 of them in the u.s. gtm says the shakeout could shut down all u.s. solar cell and manufacturing facilities by the end of next year. lori? >> wow, important energy story to stay on top of. peter barnes thank you very much. >> so president obama and governor romney will be duking it out over their foreign policy in tonight's debate and if you are wondering how it directly impacts you, ask yourself how much you paid the last time you filled up your tank. which candidate is better for your wallet when it comes to energy? here to weigh in t boone pickens, current chairman and ceo of bp capital management and legend in general. boone thank you very much for coming on. we appreciate your time. let's get right to it. whose foreign policy do you think translates to lower energy prices? >> well, foreign policy is as you know -- is an energy policy combined because you're getting oil from opec, 4 1/2 million barrels a day. so which one of the candidates?

obama has got it right that we have a lot of natural gas in america, and we should use it. but he talks about it, but he never comes up with a policy. he never has a plan. if you look over at romney, he says that, you know, we have plenty of natural gas. we have other resources, he said. we have more oil and we're adding to our oil production greater than any other country in the world right now. so our industry has done a fabulous job for america. so what does that mean? well, romney's got a 21 page plan, and it's a good plan, and it will work. what he wants to do will work. >> what is in there because i think most of our viewers probably haven't read the whole 21 pages of governor romney's energy plan. give me some nuggets in there of what you think are good policies. >> he's very clear. he's not talking about legislation. he's talking about leadership. so what he intends to do is help

build demand for natural gas in america which is good. we don't want to export it, but we will export it. i'm not against exporting. what i am for is increased demand. so here if you brought it down to, you know, the bottom line, he says get on your own resources. well, if you look at the count countries -- country around the world that are on their own resources are doing very very well. the united states has that opportunity at this point, leadership from washington, takes you in the direction of your own resources, and you've got plenty of resources. and i think romney -- >> let's talk about -- >> romney understands the industry. >> he does. and let's talk about something that you just brought up because natural gas for transportation is something that you've been a proponent of for a long time. now we are sitting in a situation where we have a glut of natural gas. you know, we've started fracking for it all over the country almost to the point where it is a problem because natural gas

prices have plummeted making producers less anxious to go out there and drill for it. you are one of them. what do you think that we could do to move to more -- or should we have more natural gas for transportation so we can use this up supply and become more energy independent from the middle east? >> well, take advantage of the abundant supply of natural gas. how do you do it? there are 8 million, 18-wheelers. and the price of natural gas, i dedicated a natural gas fuelling station for apache in lafayette louisiana last week and right across the street, the diesel is $3.79 on the pump at the apache station was $1.79. $2. that will do it. you don't have to have legislation to cause this to happen. but what you're going to do -- now, what does it mean if you have 8 million vehicles? you remember there are 250 million vehicles in america. so all i want is 8 million.

if we took those over to natural gas, stay away from diesel, that would be 3 million barrels a day. how much do we import from opec? 4 1/2 million. so you could -- with 8 million vehicles and you could do this in less five years, that if you did -- if you went to the 8 million vehicles, you'd cut opec by 75%. now, if you think it's a free market for oil, you are kidding yourself. opec sets the price for oil. it is that simple. they do, in the global market, they do. there are two different prices for oil, global prices, brent north sea crude is about 15 or 20 dollars a barrel higher than west texas intermediate which is a crude we have in america. so that's why we have the cheapest fuel in the world, cheap oil, cheap gasoline, and

cheaper natural gas. >> let me bring you back to this election because there is, you know, so much natural gas, we have now seen this. we have seen we can get at it. it is possible to use it for transportation. this does seem like it would be a good idea down the road. when i talk to people in the industry, they are worried, though, that there is a new war coming on fracking. are you concerned that if president obama is re-elected, that, you know, you could face this challenge going forward? that just when we see the tide turning to use our own natural gas, that he would not be pro fracking and pro natural gas? >> i think that the likelihood because obama -- he keeps talking about green jobs and he's talking about wind and solar. wind and solar do not replace diesel or oil. that's not what they provide. does it work? it will. it's expensive. but he is not pro industry. he talks about the industry makes too much money and things

like that. the industry is providing the cheapest energy in america in the world. okay, so yes, i think romney sees the picture like it is. it's a big picture. energy is a big part of our economy, and i think romney understands it. >> okay, boone thank you very much for coming on. we always appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> got a nice good clear answer. >> he was on fire this morning. >> absolutely. that's fantastic >> the tax man could be shrinking your stock market gains. up next find out how and what you can do about it now. but you do need to act quickly. we will tell you why. >> plus questions being raised about lucrative contracts being given to a company vice president biden's brother works for. charlie gasparino has that exclusive story. but first we were just talking about oil. let's take a look at metals as we head out to break. you can see gold and silver trading higher. copper lower though, down 6/10 of a percent. we will be right back.

>> all right. brace yourself, the stock market gains this year could become undone by the end of the year. for more than one reason other than just being skeptical about the health of the stock market, you have got two very important changes coming out of washington. elizabeth mcdonald is here with the details in her bottom line. >> that's right if the bush rates expire on basically dividend and capital gains,

those taxes will go up. bmo capital, jpmorgan chase, all sorts of investment banks and bankers are talking about this and they're worried that in the fourth quarter the stock market gains could go away, could become undone because people start selling to lock in cheaper capital gains before the rates go up. and dividend stocks, why own a dividend stock, why not just move to a growth stock if dividend tax is going to go up, go to more high powered growth stock. a lot of money has been pouring into dividends, companies like this -- i should do it this way. [laughter] >> anyway, jpmorgan chase for example out with a report showing 680 billion dollars in dividend payouts since -- in 2011. double what it was in 2008. do you know what's going to get hurt by the tax rates going up on dividends and capital gains? look at this, 68% of tax returns reporting dividends. look at this, 100,000 in income or less. this is going to ernst -- this

is according to to ernst and young. about 70% of the 100,000 or less crowd. the older senior citizen, 65 plus they basically get most of the dividends, they report them on their tax returns so this is something that's on the radar screen down there on wall street. electric utilities, these are the companies you have to watch out, electric utilities, consumer staples and what's the other one? i will tell you in a minute. go ahead. >> technology? >> industrials. >> oh, i was so close. >> i had two total strangers ask me over the weekend what's going to happen with the market based on the election? would you buy before or after the election? how do you know? >> i said if you are going to raise taxes on capital gains and dividends, it is very clear, that's bad for the market. people are going to get out because it changes your rate of return, you are very clearly not going to buy as many stocks, so vote for the person who is not going to do that if you care about the market. >> these guys are ballparking it, what's the hit going to be?

15% downturn in the fourth quarter, 20? i tend to discount that but it's something that is to the attention of wall streeters. >> sure. >> thanks. >> nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. it seems like the selling is accelerating right now. nicole: it is accelerating. we are seeing the dow down about 66 points. in percentage terms, that's worth about 1/2 of 1% for the dow jones industrials. s&p is much in the same. there's the tech heavy nasdaq. we have seen tech stocks coming under pressure. today the nasdaq is sitting right around the unchanged line. names like ibm and intel certainly contributed to the losses that we saw on certain days last week. i wanted to take a look here now at some of the movers that we're watching. peabody energy being one of them. they did raise the lower end of their full year revenue forecast. they do see potential for growth in china and even in europe, seeing some demand there. of course coal has been somewhat out of favor, but has been

picking up some steam in outlook and some other names doing well along wit. like alpha natural resources and arch coal. back to you. >> thank you. up next, charlie gasparino takes a look at vice president biden's brother. it is an exclusive story you will only see here. >> don't forget tonight, neil cavuto has full coverage of tonight's presidential debate that's starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern. as we head out to break, let's take a look at how the dollar is faring. it is weaker this against the euro and the pound. we will be right back.

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>> at 21 minute past the hour i'm lauren green with your fox news minute. the man who opened fire at a wisconsin salon where his wife works had a history of domestic abuse.

police say he killed three women and wounded four more yesterday. before taking his own life. his wife was granted a temporary restraining order this month. police haven't said yet whether she was one of the victims. lance armstrong has been stripped of his 7 tour de france titles. the official follows report of the u.s. anti-doping agency that accused him of leading a massive doping program on his team. and things were hopping at australia's melbourne airport after a kangaroo got stuck on the 5th floor of a parking garage. a wildlife officer had to be called in to sedate the kangaroo. it wasn't seriously injured and will be released back into the wild tomorrow. those are your fox news headlines. now back to melissa francis >> happy ending. lauren thank you very much. it is the ties that james biden, the younger brother of vice president joe biden possibly benefitting from his

political connections to win what some say is a sweetheart deal with huge bucks. charlie has the exclusive details on this story. >> before i unravel this, i think we're all in agreement here that he deserves to make a living. >> yeah. >> this guy should go out there and enrich himself and enrich his family. >> the question is did he get an advantage because of his connections? >> that's what's going on. i write about conflicts of interest and potential conflicts of interest. he works for a construction company called hill international. he got that job in late 2010. six months later hill international got one of its biggest jobs ever to build affordable homes in iraq. the only way you get that job, it's a 1.5 billion dollars deal, is if you get the u.s. government and iraqi government, and a contractor for that, and a korean firm, we will get into that in a minute to all agree. hill trades on the new york stock exchange. it's getting battered lately. that's why a lot of analysts are talking about this potential

deal to help the company and james biden's role in it. what do we know about james biden? basically zero experience -- by the way my story gave the stock a pop. they should be happy it is up. up .07% today after the fox business report on these connections. what do we know about james biden? started a hedge fund a couple years ago. got some headlines -- in liquidation right now, got some headlines that there was allegations a former partner was screwed out of the deal. also his hedge fund was sold through alan stanford, more allegations. that hedge fund is gone. what he's done after that no one can tell until he showed up at hill. hill got this deal. there's multiple layers of the story that's on foxbusiness.com. i talked to the man who runs hill international. he had one of the more interesting quotes of this. can we put it on the screen? where is that quote? >> ask and maybe you will receive. doesn't look good. >> it doesn't look good. there we go.

that's david richter -- but anyway you get the point. the company is essentially conceding that these political ties open doors. there's one that's amazing. here's what irv richter told me. that's where we're going with this. this is a pretty interesting story. on foxbusiness.com. the korean company is interesting because guess what? it's part of the development -- koreans have a lot of ties to iraqi government, do a lot of building over there to rebuild the nation. apparently right after the deal was signed, james biden shows up at a state dinner, hosted by the president and michelle obama, for the president of korea and all the korean dignitaries, tim geithner was there. it is a pretty interesting place. the vice president was there. pretty interesting place for a guy like james biden whose last known business was essentially a hedge fund that's now in liquidation. like i said, the guy deserves to

earn a living. it is our job as reporters to point out connections to government when those connections might be the reason why people are getting deals. i can tell you the analysts that cover hill will tell me government connections are all over this. this deal cannot get done without ties to the obama administration and iraqi government. also point out that irv richter says while he may open doors james biden that doesn't mean he's the reason they are successful. also pointed out that the project has been delayed although hill is assuring analysts they believe by the end of the year they will break ground and some of that money comes in. when that money does come in, a big chunk of it, 1.5 billion, a big chunk of it is going to flow directly to a group of partners who include james biden. he's in line. that's about 700 million dollars minus the expenses that goes to those clients. it's a huge -- potentially huge payday. >> did you cover this charlie -- i'm sorry if i glazed over this, did hill have any competition in this development that you know of? >> i was going to say that's who would be screaming if they are

out there. >> they went and pitched the deal to them -- iraq needs affordable homes. hill has never really been in that business, but this group of investors, which included biden, came to hill and said this is our idea. let's team up and then they teamed up. >> they didn't bid it out, though? >> the iraqi government didn't bid it out, yes. they went to them. that's a good point. no bid contract. listen, like i said, the vice presidential debate was interesting between paul ryan and joe biden. because joe biden, the vice president, the brother of james biden, point blank said crony capitalism does not exist in the obama administration which on its face is stupid because you know why? it exists in every administration. >> yeah. >> and this is an example some would say particularly the analysts that cover this company of crony capitalism, particularly if this thing gets done. we should point out that james biden you see him there on the left does other work for hill. he opens doors for them. mr. richter said there's no doubt he's going -- he's very good dealing with government officials because as he put it, it's a great quote in the story on foxbusiness.com, he's been

with his brother a long time. >> right. [laughter] >> charlie gasparino, good story, good investigating. thank you. >> absolutely. foreign policy the focus in tonight's presidential debate. up next fox news middle east analyst on the issues you need to watch for and the differences between the president and the governor, including oil, which hit all of our wallets. and take a look at some of today's winners and losers here as we head out to break. you can see peabody energy having a really good day, up better than 9%, almost 9 1/2. we will be right back. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything.

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lori: half past. time for stocks now as we do

every 15 minutes. back to the floor of the new york stock exchange and nicole petallides. stocks are actually mostly lower here now on the earnings reports. >> yeah. we continue to sell off here. every time we speak we see the lows of the day. we're seeing exactly that right now. we've been selling off in the last, 15, 20 minutes or some we're down about 90 points now on the dow jones industrials which is worth almost 3/4 of 1%. most of the names are coming under some pressure. bank stocks, retail stocks, drug stocks all with down arrows, transports and oil services all with down arrows as well. this week we're coming off of friday which obviously was a tough day. that was our biggest one day drop in four months. down over 200 points. we'll get later economic news. i want to look at earnings. we're seeing names coming out with tough earnings. we'll see what we get today. we'll watch yahoo! and texas instruments closely. they're expected to report after the bell. yahoo! with the new ceo of yahoo!. that will be something we've

waited to see what her strategy will be. texas instruments, western digital also reporting their quarterly earnings. stay tuned to the fox business network in the 4:00 p.m. show because we'll be focusing on these names of course, as they report their quarterly reports. as you know it has been a tough go of it. a lot of names missing their numbers. melissa: absolutely. it is really starting to spook markets and investors. people are starting to talk about it. nicole, thanks so much. turning now to the commodities it is a down day for the energy sector with oil down for a third straight session. fox business's phil flynn from the futures group. what are they talking about? are they following stocks to a certain extent? >> i think they are. this market is slip-sliding away into the november expiration. there is a lot of concern about the global economy. there nothing really passionate down here for traders right now. so they're following every other market. this is despite the fact we just got a report that shell in nigeria declare ad force majeure on the crude.

that usually gives the market a bounce, a little bit of a bounce on the ice contract but really not here. the other big story, the international energy agency saying how bigger rack could be the global oil market. in a few years it could produce over eight million barrels a day. won has to wonder if that wouldn't have been possible without the surge a few years ago when the pipelines were blowing up almost every day. iraq a major player. more supply coming onto the marketplace. melissa: interesting stuff. phil flynn, thanks so much. >> thank you. lori: president obama, governor mitt romney facing off in the third and final presidential debate tonight. the topic, foreign policy. most expect the u.s. economy to remain front and center. joining me dr. walid phares, fox senior middle east expert and advisor for governor mitt romney. welcome back. great to have you. >> thank you, lori, we know from the polls that people are voting on the domestic economy yet do you think the

president's handling of the libyan crisis in recent weeks is enough to sway voters back to romney? >> basically the differences in foreign policy, national security views and specifically in the middle east and more particularly on libya are so deep, the president is making the case that having killed bin laden successfully of course, then al qaeda is going down. so he has not projected al qaeda will surge in many places including in libya and attack us. the governor will say, true that bin laden was killed but al qaeda is a live and attacks us and has killed an ambassador and staffers as well. lori: but the issue with libya and how it took so many weeks to really sort out really what happened and, i don't need to rehash the whole thing but for our purposes and our interests here and also if you go back to the last debate and how romney a lot of people would argue missed really hammering the president on how he handled libya in the immediate aftermath, a lot of people said, you know, romney missed that point. what will the dialogue be like tonight on that

specific issue? >> let's be very clear. the fact that the governor was not able to develop the entire argument was the fact that the journalist who is conducted moderator cut him off. lori: sure. >> unescapeable. today libya will be addressed. today, syria will be addressed and tonight iran will be addressed. i think differences between the obama agenda and romney agenda are going to be so deep the public will understand there is a big difference and they will have to make a choice on the future of u.s. policy. lori: what would you expect obama's firm line to be? >> i killed bin laden. lori: right. >> i have withdrawn from iraq and the response is, you killed bin laden. al qaeda is killing us. you withdrew from iraq. iran took over iraq. that will be the two major issues. but again, civil war in syria. there have been no action by the obama administration on syria. 20 to 30,000 people have been killed. egypt is shifting slowly from being a partner to the united states to becoming critic of the united states and there are threats

against the peace process with israel. there is a lot of ground that the governor can and would cover to make sure that the american public understands that the differences are really deep between the two agendas. lori: look what is going on overseas is so troubling of everything from what is going on in the middle east to the general malaise of the global economy. walid, this is your area of expertise. are people really going to be keying into those concerns outside of our boundaries, outside of our territory? or at the end of the day will they be concerned with their own pocketbooks? will tonight's debate be enough to sway voters in either direction. >> it should. the gas prices are not just economic life and social life. if the iranian regime is not contained, if al qaeda is not defeated whole network the iting us cheaper fly of oil will go down in the next few months. there are threats in libya. there are threats in the gulf and there are threats in syria. american citizens, if

well-explained they will understand the link between middle eastern politics and terrorism and our economy here at home. lori: let's jump to china. we're a financial news network of course. what are your thoughts, in earlier debates we heard mitt romney he would label china a currency manipulator, china's exports come here, and most of our treasurys are purchased by the chinese. very tenuous relationship. what is the best way for the governor to 1/2 bait this topic? >> will have to be very clear and we have experience from the reagan days, when you are very clear and push back against communist regimes such as the soviet regime they will end up reforming. we had gorbachev, and collapse, brought down the collapse of the soviet union. china sees that the current administration is actually, you know, withdrawing is pulling back. not really dealing with i ran. not dealing with other threats in the middle east. it is earn couraging china to do what it is doing. a different approach would moderate the chinese

leadership. they want to continue to make money. they don't want to risk the financial gain. lori: walid phares, thanks for your analysis. we'll be watching. >> interesting perspective. so will the candidates shift the focus of tonight's debate from foreign policy to the economy here at home? what voters seem to be really tune understood right now so can they do it? we'll ask lou dobbs after the break. lori: we'll see how people feeling with the amount of risk in their portfolio, they're actually selling treasurys today and they're selling u.s. stocks. so that is an interesting and unlikely asset class relationship with the 10-year yielding 1.79% and the 30-year, there you go. follow the wings.

>> good afternoon, i'm sandra smith with your fox business brief. fedex says it expects to see record volume for the holiday season thanks to e-commerce. the company expects to handle more than 280 million holiday shipments up 13% from a year ago. >> shares of freeport-mcmoran, they are lower today after the company reported third quarter results that were down double digits from a year ago. the mining company's profit fell 22% to 86 cents a share. revenue which beat the estimate, was down 15%. federal regulators hit

david learner for unfair estate practices over a real estate investment trust. firm's founder and ceo, david le h.r. ner, has been fined $250,000. that is latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper

lori: well, this is it, the third and final presidential debate. the focus, foreign policy but will the candidates try to shift things close to home? looks like the spin has already begun. look former white house chief of staff and president obama supporter mayor rahm emanuel of chicago had to say this weekend. >> i think most important thing we could do on our country on foreign policy is strengthen the economy here at home. there is leadership abroad comes from a strong economy. lori: can we expect to see more of this tactic tonight? the vorers eye also is it

all about the economy. let's bring in lou dobbs. focus on economy. melissa: a little jab. lori: current president has done nothing to rehabilitate. >> for a second there i thought we had gone back in time and we were back with the clinton administration. he was ewing same rhetoric. public investment, spending taxpayers dollars. on fewcation, dog whistles and all of the nonsense from that era brought new and fresh to the obama era. it is suddenly occurs to rahm emanuel, other obamaites, that maybe after four years it would be a good idea to perhaps get the economy moving again? that's the kind of resilience, i guess we could call it that, that you have to admire in a politician. but i have to tell you, the american people have got to be disgusted hearing this nonsense. melissa: yeah. i mean i wonder if the candidates will take the same turn tonight? that was a pretty direct way, talk about if you want to talk about the economy, how do you take a debate on

foreign policy and turn it right back to the economy? >> i think that, i think that, mayor emanuel has a lot of problems. first of all his city isn't going his way. and, neither is the country going obama's way. it will be a night where if the president tries to play cute, tries to get just a little more than clever by half, he is going to be in real trouble because there's nothing waiting for him at the end of the economic discussion but his record. so i don't know why in the world he would turn there. melissa: no. >> and the other part of this is, that --. melissa: i guess unless he feels so many pain over foreign policy. if benghazi gets really heated and wants to talk about anything else. >> the audience will not put up with that kind of nonsense. he pretty much put a stake down he will say almost anything in order to preserve his position at least on stage, if not in the oval office. we're not even hearing him about the discussion the fact he cut off business with canada, stopped the keystone pipeline.

that is part of international diplomacy and foreign policy under this administration. we're not hearing anything about the 200 mexican citizens killed in, under operation "fast and furious". that is also part of foreign policy. but we're not hearing about the fact that mexico's oil is declining in both production and distribution. that canada is being pushed toward china. then you deal with the extent problem which is an administration for all the world looks like right now it has lied not once but, a cereal set of lies that have been pushed forward by the administration over a six-week period. it is not a happy moment for this president to be having a debate on foreign policy. lori: add to that the fact we heard quite a bit from the governor already on his foreign policy, how he is planning to deal with china. his plans for opening up trade and so on, so forth and actually quite convincing. at least that is what -- >> i mentioned the

expression dog whistle here. here is another problem. he has chavez and putin and castro endorsing obama, does. this is a loud dog whistle for the world he has, as he says to medvedev, the president of russia, the prime minister of russia now, he will have more flexibility after four years. there are higher values at work here in this administration than simply serving the interests of the united states and the american people. he is playing on a different plane and the american people are quite aware of it now. melissa: thank you, lou. lori: see you back here tomorrow? >> look forward to it. lori: so do we. of course watch "lou dobbs tonight" 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern. with romney senior advisor and former new hampshire governor, john sununu. melissa: as we do every 15 minutes, let's get a check on the markets. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. the dow is down 106 points. >> for the first time we're down triple digits, melissa

and lori, the dow is down almost 107 points, the losses of .8%. we're seeing across the board major averages. the nasdaq is trying to move in the green and selling off, tech heavy composite, now down one-third of 1%. we're waiting for economic news later in the week. tonight we have our last debate between our presidential candidates. we've gotten in earnings from some of our big dow players that put weight on the market last week, names like microsoft, intel, ibm, ge, given tough outlooks. of course later today after the bell would continue with more earnings. pressure remains on this market. we see the follow through from selling from friday, moving into today. back to you. melissa: nicole, thanks so much. this year's drought might have seemed like a horror story for some farmers but for others it is scaring up a big crop. jeff flock is on the farm. wow! look at that. lori: look at the size of those pumpkins.

>> this is the most bountiful pumpkin harvest i think we had in recent memory. i can't even make my way completely through it. back in a moment to explain exactly why it's the year of the pumpkin. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is karen anjeremiah. they don't know it yet, but they' gonna fall in love, get married, have a couple of kids, [ children laughing ] move to the country, and live a long, happy life together where they almost never fight about money. [ dog barks ] because right after they get married, they'll find some retirement people who are paid on salary, not commission. they'll get straightforward guidance and be able to focus on other things, like each other, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

lori: low energy. been a longer than usual day. i had the honor of chatting with don imus this morning. he was chatting me asking me about our show. as usual trying to stir the pot as only imus can but i wasn't falling for it.

have a listen. >> worked out well? >> really, you did? you know what? tell you why she is starting to get on my nerves because she is perfect. she is smart and beautiful. and, always impresses me what she brings to the table. she is never, never has an off day. melissa: you had me nervous there. this was real housewives they would have -- getting on my nerves. could have cut to the catfight and, that was very sweet of you but i was nervous there the at beginning. i was like uh-oh. there you go. that was so, he watches almost every day. he is a big fan of the markets now crew. melissa: we're a big fan of imus. he does stir the pot. he was trying to get you in trouble or get us. yeah. lori: it was nerve-wracking. that was fun. so thank you. melissa: thank you, you're so sweet. she is one of the few successes in a year, with severe drought baked most of the nation's heartland farmers are sitting on a smashingly good pumpkin

harvest. our own jeff flock is in illinois with the details. >> very few of them, melissa, are smaed this year. because it has been dry out here. even though it is a little wet right now. i would love to have lori my press agent too. nice things she says. hope she would say nice things about me too. i am with kevin out in the nation's heart of pumpkin country. kevin i see white ones out here. what do they call those? >> full moon. >> fool machine pumpkins. look at the impact of the drought on say corn prices. prices stablize somewhat. they judgmentped up because -- jumped up because of the drought. bad news for most people but the pumpkin farmers your biggest enemy is wet, correct? >> when it is wet it is not the best for pumpkins. >> this year, kevin grows 90 different varieties. look at this one. that is a green one. what is the heck is that? >> that is fairytale. >> that is fairytale pumpkin

they call these. maybe if tim pans over here. what are the other ones that look a little odd there? >> those are called the rumbas. >> rumbas. a panoply of you will pumpkins. because of dry conditions, a lot of these pumpkins, we just had a rainstorm come through here. that won't hurt it much now because they have done their growing. corn farmers would love to be you now that have a crop that likes dry weather. >> absolutely. this is rougher year for the corn crop. with especially the two week window for pollination. pumpkins, do better in dry weather every. >> it is the year of the pumpkin, guys. melissa: very cool. i want that giant one, jeff flock, thanks very much. there were a couple giant ones. lori: that is tough to carve. with little kids it is hard to carve. but it is fun. melissa: i'm on my way out to california, td ameritrade investor conference. this is conference i did with some other network i

used to work at. we're bringing it with fox business. they put together more than a thousand traders to get their minds how they're trading the market. what they see ahead. institutional investors. i always meet retail investors as well. it is a great turnout. you really get to see what everybody is looking at, what they're buying, what they're doing and what is not working. we'll have the see yo of -- ceo of ameritrade live on the show. a lot of great guests. you don't want to miss that. if you're concerned about your portfolio this is the thing you want to watch. lori: talking about having an ear on the pavement. melissa: also "money" at 5:00 p.m.. lori: you're checking in. coming up next hour, new push to teach american kids the skills they need for the workforce. act he had of -- head of education joins tracy byrnes and ashley webster in next hour of fox business. stick around. i'm a conservative investor. i invest in what i know. i turned 65 last week. i'm getting married. planning a life.

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tracy: hey, good afternoon. i'm tracy byrnes.

ashley: and i'm ashley webster. yes it is the last debate before the presidential election just two weeks from tomorrow, by the way. who will come out on top heading into the final stretch? that is the big question. fox business senior vice president and managing editor neil cavuto live from boca raton, florida, with a preview straight ahead. tracy: that is like the new york annex, right? investors racking up solid stock gains for 2012 so far but are tax changes for dividends and cap pains about to wipe them all out? ashley: new yahoo! ceo, marisa mayor, expected to unveil her come back plan. a lot of people waiting for the conference call for the struggling internet pioneer. it is coming up in hours. we'll have a preview straight ahead. look, the major indices, are well, down 81 on the dow. look at these stocks as we do every 15 minutes and head down to nicole petallides on the nyse having trouble getting things going, nicole. tracy: literally and

figuratively. >> well, this is mess here on wall street. it is true we're seeing our third day of selling last week. of course friday was the key day. on friday we dropped 205 points on the dow. you may remember thursday where we dropped eight points. today you can tack on 82 negative dow points. with the selling we're seeing these days we're testing key support levels. we see the s&p 500 about nine points below its 50-day moving average of 1434. that has traders of course concluding about the selloff, looking at lower lows, a downtrend that is in place. so it is not unusual to see traders say, you know what? if we break one key support level they look to the next one. so that's exactly what they are doing now. of course we've gotten in lots of earnings that have been a little disappointing. so we'll continue to follow earnings and economic news this week as well. back to you. tracy: nicole, we'll see you in 15 minutes, girl. >> as we were saying the major indices are up 10% for

the year, not bad. 14% on the s&p. so how should investors position themselves for the rest of 2012? still a lot of uncertainty out there. joining us now, wells fargo seen more marketing manager, margie patel. qe3, doing nothing except raising inflation. so be prepared for that. i've been hearing this from analysts for some time. we're at qe3. we haven't seen signs of that. when do you see inflation kicking in? >> i think we need to see much stronger lending from the banks in order to really superpower all the liquidity that is there. i think over the next year inflation will be low. so that's really a concern down the road, not for today. tracy: you know, one of the things you also point out, people are better off suited with companies that make their money here in the united states. we actually heard in some earnings reports recently, even ge, saying the currency exchanges is part of what killed them. so, do you recommend that people swap out of the multinationals into

u.s.-based companies? >> well, i think that u.s. based companies, companies that have most of their revenues in the u.s., will do better, because one of the big sources of growth over the last few years has been selling to developing markets. but now we're seeing those growth rates are coming down very dramatically, whether it is china, india, brazil. so our growth rate doesn't look that bad after all, and we have great fundamentals. so i think you will see surprises for u.s. based companies who have less emphasis in those rapidly growing areas that really decelerated. ashley: well, it is difficult in this global era, isn't it, with the global economy slowing down so much, many of these companies do have exposure to the rest of the world. caterpillar just one announcing today, how tough it is out there. so what does that say to you for the markets going forward into the new year? we'll have the election behind us. maybe the fiscal cliff has been dealt with but are we still going to see a struggle on the global level? >> well, yes i think we're seeing deceleration around

the world. really based on the fact a lot of growth had been due to excess borrowing, which now has to be retrenched. and i think that as we get into next year we'll see the u.s. continue to accelerate because we have strengthened housing and autos and also our employment is picking up. but i think that we'll see growth rather muted. so i think returns next year will be muted but still a lot better than the risk-free alternatives. tracy: one of the places you're pointing investors to is the shale gas revolution. can you tell us a little bit about that and where people should be looking to put their money? >> well i think, that the whole spectrum is attractive, whether they are companies that have a lot of their assets in shale gas plays. certainly do have assets in the u.s. look a lot less risky than some of the overseas assets or pipeline companies who transport or treat shale gas and shale gas liquids as well as companies that can these

low-cost products as a resource for their products such as some of the basic chemical companies which have terrific outlook now based on low-cost shale gas. ashley: very quickly, what about the pharmaceutical sector? you like pharma? you think there are big new products coming down the pipeline and this might be a good area for investment? >> yes. i think even big pharma looks very interesting because they still have an opportunity to develop new drugs that can add revenues in spite of some of their patents many could off over the next few years. they also have a tremendous opportunity to cut costs to increase cash flow. we have specialty pharma companies much smaller but have more proprietary products that won't be hurt by any kind of price caps in health care. we don't know what is going to happen as far as obamacare. and also, have the chance to be acquired. we've seen a lot of m&a activity that has been very beneficial. ashley: very good. great information, margie patel. thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks. tracy: we'll talk more about

the shale revolution. a lot of people talking about it. brace yourself, this year's stock market gains could be completely undone by two very important changes coming from washington, d.c. by the end of the year. liz macdonald is here with emac's bottom line. one of my favorite topics, taxes. except these are going up. >> dividend taxes. ashley: you like taxes? many could on. >> you like talking them. tracy: i like talking them. >> you're an auditor. you're a dork. i'm a fellow geek. dividend taxes set to go up, possibly to as high as get this, nearly 44% all-in with the obamacare taxes on investment income. capital-gains taxes set to go up when and if the bush rates expire and congress does nothing. this is hot topic on wall street. jpmorgan chase talking about it, wells fargo, bmo capital, blackrock. they're saying wait a second, will there be fourth quarter selling pressure on these stocks? we'll show you names of some of the stocks that are big dividend payers to the, this way.

so, what the deal is, that, sell your stocks to avoid the capital gains, higher taxes. and also why own a dividend-paying stock if taxes are going up? go to high momentum growth stock to make up the difference. ashley: right. >> could be a double-whammy. not just taxes going up but selling pressure on the stocks as well. tell you something, jpmorgan chase, saw that once interest rates on savings accounts went down to microscopic levels they saw dividend distribution levels and dividend stocks going up. look at this number, $680 billion in dividend distributions in 2011 versus half in 2008. the issue is, who gets hit? 68% of the dividends we see in this country, look at this, reported on people with incomes of 100,000 or less. you will see also who are these people? typically senior citizens, age 65 plus. 32% of the tax returns cited by ernst & young.

25 million returns. 32% are seniors there. tracy: we've been talking so much how the dividend stocks are top heavy to begin with. ashley: yeah. tracy: you need another nudge to sell the taxes are certainly it. >> there will be gyration people get worried when they see congress not doing anything and lame duck not settling issues. watch out are for the double-whammy on selling pressure and tax hikes. just a warning to viewers. tracy: with a smile. a warning with a smile. ashley: thank you very much. on deck another solar company helped by american taxpayers gone dark. in other words, bankrupt. details next. tracy: yahoo! about to report results from its first quarter with marisa mayer as ceo. will this mark a turning point for the company? as we do every day this time we'll look at out oil is trading. trading at $89.03 a barrel. we'll be right back. bob...

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ashley: earlier today a judge confirming solyndra's bankruptcy plan, despite protests from the government which may lose over $500 million that it had invested in the company. it comes of course on the heels of two more companies subsidized by the energy

department filing for bankruptcy protection last week. what a mess. peter barnes in washington with more. peter? >> hey, ashley. one of those companies that filed for bankruptcy last week was a solar power company that got some government backing. the name of it is satcon in boston. it is the latest of these solar companies to go bust. the list includes obviously the infamous solyndra which left taxpayers on the hook for 500 million as you just mentioned. satcon was approved for $3 million in energy department grants. it only got 200,000 of that cash. the solar industry is going a major shakeout and consolidation and may barely survive even with the government's help. it has been brutalized in previous years by competition, oversupply and china which continues to invest heavily in solar. >> we're going through a consolidation as an industry very similar to what most industries go through. the auto industry went

through it in the '20s, where you had 4 or 500 manufacturers and it dropped down to 10 or 15. >> a green tech research firm, gtm research, sees another 180 solar panel plants going out of business or being acquired by 2015. 27 of them in the u.s. gtm says the shablgout could shut down all u.s. solar manufacturing facilities by the end of next year. ashley? ashley: peter barnes, thank you very much. tell you what. the more we talk about solar the more we realize it is very difficult to get this thing going because you're competing with china and those really cheap panels. it is very difficult. tracy: right. unless we keep subsidizing we can't compete. ashley: that's right. tracy: as we do every 15 minutes we head back down to nick -- nicole pettiledes. >> we have caterpillar, the

stock is giving it a go. the truth of the matter, this morning it had a down arrow representing the fact the company comes out and saying listen we'll have to trim our 2012 numbers. not only that we're also going to have to look into 2013 and we're very cautious on the first half the 2013 as well. you can see caterpillar sold off early in the morning and recouped those losses. right now up she quarters of 1%. when you think of caterpillar and think of bulldozer, excavators and construction equipment. look at vf corp. they came out with their numbers. they're the parent of north face, timberland, january sport, some apparel companies. even though they did well in the quarter they didn't meet analyst expectations. there was growth for sales at north face. quarterly earnings beat but revenue was shy. north face they saw a little bit of decelerating growth. that is something the

analysts were very quick to notice. that is one of reasons why you saw vp corp selling off 5%. it raised their quarterly dividend. seemed like a good report but revenues were shy in north face and. tracy: there has been no snow. nicole, see you in 15 minutes. coming up yahoo!'s big moment. can the embattled internet company prove to investors that it actually turned things around? i don't know. we'll find out. ashley: the snowiest winter in history. tracy: i think to myself, you're right, look how the u.s. dollar is moving right now and you can see down against the euro, the pound and the canadian dollar. we'll be right back. [ engine revving ]

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so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart ? don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i havea differer going that way, does that make a difference ? look at verizon. it's so much more than the other ones. so what if we just changed the format altogether ? isn't that the exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. still sticking with verizon. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than allther networks combined.

>> at 20 minutes past the hour i'm lauren green with your fox news minute. an israeli airstrike left at least four palestinians wounded in gaza today. defense officials from israel say their aircraft targeted a rocket launching squad on the northern end of the strip. the strike came hours after rockets from a hamas-run area struck parts of southern israel. a court in italy convicted seven scientists of manslaughter for not

warning citizens of an the earthquake. the quake rocked central italy back in 2009 killing more than 300 people. each. defendants were sentenced to six years in prison. winner-take-all in a game 7 matchup between the st. louis cardinals and the san francisco giants. the winner wins the national league pennant and the date with the detroit tigers in the world series. the first pich is from san francisco at 8:00 p.m. eastern. back to lashly and tracy. tracy: lauren green, thank you very much. ashley: yahoo! reporting third quarter earnings after the bell today. ceo marissa mayer expected to make her first appearance. investors want to know how she plans to turn the company around. for more what to expect, i'm joined by scott kessler, analyst with s&p captial iq. all right, scott, big day for marissa mayer, no doubt about it. how important is this call? >> well, rashly i think it

is important. obviously, look, i mean, marissa mayer has been in place for, i don't know, i guess, at this point, a handful of months at this stage. she apparently already went on and perhaps already came back from maternity leave. a lot has happened over the last few months. i think it is fair to say that people want to hear two or three things from her. one is, what her kind of broad strategy is. two, where she is going to be envesting yahoo!'s resources. and then, three, incrementally what changes she wants to make. bottom line, that is the favor for what people want to hear later today. >> the general belief is, she is more interested in kind of turning around or improving the technology as opposed to media contact, making it more interact tiff, simplifying it in some ways. do you think this is the right approach? >> it makes a lot of sense.

if you think about yahoo! and the various executives and strategies they have had over the last number of years, one thing seems to stand out, and that is, that a lot of people think that there are a lot of different ways that yahoo! can do better and we agree. clearly, more recently, it seems like the focus, of the management team was the yahoo! property and media businesses. and they announced a number of partnerships in the april, may and june time frame to build what they have already started in that regard. i think, i think marissa mayer, she really, given her background, is going to emphasize, as you pointed out, the technology platforms, the products and ultimately the user experience. and i think that given her background, given her experience and frankly, given her past areas of focus, these areas make a lot of sense to emphasize

going forward. ashley: but that would put it, you know, squarely up against the facebooks and the googles of the world. i mean that is pretty daunting, isn't it? >> that is already the case. yahoo! is already competing with facebook and google and a whole host of other internet companies, whether you think of them as internet media companies or internet plat form companies or internet communications companies you get the gist. the bottom line they're already going toe-to-toe with all these companies. for us the better approach clearly is to offer an improved product that causes your user base to increase and become more engaged. i think that is what she will be focused on. ashley: and you have a price target over the next 12 months of 20 bucks. it's trading around 15.86, $16 there abouts. you think it is at somewhat of a distressed level right now? >> yeah, we think, look,

yahoo! as a stock is notably undervalued and there are a whole host of reasons for that. you talk about the tremendous global brand and reach and go down to the balance sheet where they had a couple of billion dollars in cash and investments before they sold a significant stake in ali baba group and netted about $5 billion of additional capital. they have considerable resources. they have a change agent in marissa mayer and a lot of opportunity we think to add value for shareholders. ashley: you mentioned this earlier, a lot of resources, $2.4 billion in cash or there abouts. how would you like to see yahoo! use that money? >> well, i think, number one, i think judiciously, right? i think, just because they have considerable capital and resources doesn't mean they have to use the or use it all at once. secondly i do think though that bringing in some new folks in the context of higher profile hires and even some smaller

acquisitions make perfect sense. if you want yahoo! to be an industry leader you have to bring in the talent to make that happen. ashley: that will be a very interesting call. a lot of people waiting to hear from marissa mayer. we're also glad to hear from scott kessler with s&p captial iq. thank you very much. >> thanks a lot, ashley the take care. ashley: don't miss fox business's extensive coverage of yahoo! earnings and don't forget results from texas instruments. it is all today at 4:00 p.m. eastern time right here on "after the bell.". tracy: god bless her, man. just had a baby. do it and we'll go have dinner. gasoline price fell another penny overnight. triple a's national average for unleaded, $3.67 a gallon. that is down 12 cents from a week ago. it is up 21 cents, and i know this first-hand from a year ago. oil prices tumbling again after closing down in four of the last five weeks. light sweet crude trading at

$88.42 a barrel right now. and i tell you, i'm not feeling it at the pump. all these movements. all i'm feeling is up. ashley: if you're feeling pain if anything. up. tracy: one direction. ashley: one. tracy: people at gas stations make money? do you see the money i give to these people every day? ashley: someone is getting it. tracy: someone is getting it. ashley: coming up while president obama and gop challenger mitt romney prepare for tonight's debate a group of business leaders is speaking out about who they think is best to lead our economy. fox business senior vice president and managing editor neil cavuto, found himself down on a lounger in boca. he will be weighing in live what is coming up tonight. tracy: boca. look at some of today's winners and losers on the s&p 500 as we head out to break. energy up, peabody up and netflix hanging in there. 4.62% increase today.

we'll be right back.

tracy: it is 30 past the hour. we have to get a check on the market as we do every 15 minutes. we have nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole: we will have some insight. this is the third day in a row that we are seeing headlines. what is all of this telling you? >> it certainly tells you that the market is concerned. it has been. we see the market bounce 1425-

1475. it keeps trying to break the resistance. it cannot. there are micro concerns because the individual company earnings are coming in weaker just as expected. it is that guidance going forward. that is making people a lot more conscience. nicole: caterpillar would be an example of that. you then have probably three-5% more to go on the downside. >> on the s&p future, 1475 was really that support level. we decisively broke through it today. the vix has moved higher. that would indicate you have room. i think that if we get down to 1410-1400, that is where it will find some real support. nicole: are there any other sectors or anything else in

particular? >> i think if people are looking to be conservative, they will go for these large-cap americana dividend paying stocks. there are safety in them. they know them. they are familiar. nicole: thank you for joining us, as always. >> it is always a pleasure. tracy: the americanus talking about i tell you and. ashley: president obama and mitt romney stepping into the ring tonight. both hoping to sway the undecided voters. are there any left? also looking to make an impact -- our very own neil cavuto will be anchoring fox business coverage of tonight's debate. joining us tonight from boca.

i would imagine mr. romney has binders full of countries that he has been studying, right? neil: the commander and chief by his command of the global landscape -- sometimes we probably make a bigger deal out of this than is warranted. i think even critics would see the point that, you know, he has had much success. there his critics would say he has had some say two. not a lot of foreign policy experience going in. mitt romney not a lot of foreign policy experience going in. the question is what have you learned from that experience and one of the things you can expect mitt romney to do tonight is to keep harping on the economy and what it says about our country. even though this is a foreign policy debate tonight, do not be

at all surprised if he mentions coming fiscal storms at the end of the year. many credit rating agencies are watching this closely. expect governor romney to talk about how that compromises our national security. a number of former chief of staff generals have been saying it compromises our view in the world if we become a laughingstock in the world or we cannot take our finances seriously. it is this type of stuff that mitt romney will want to found on. that is an area of strength. this has a germane effect, a real tangible effect, that i will hammer home tonight. ashley: there is a sense that this could be the rubber match, so to speak. how important is it really, whoever wins tonight, there is

still two weeks to go? neil: i have heard that argument also, like a rubber match. it has not really moved the meter much. in some of these national polls, governor romney's lead has widened good and in some other swing states, they are pretty close. if it was a great debate -- i think, depending on who you talk to, most would agree that it was. barack obama admitted that he showed up for that one. i think the pressure is more on the president tonight then the challenger. he will want to remind people i am the guy who has been in charge throughout some of these great primes. the development in libya -- we

could be watching that all away. expect the president to pound the good and mitt romney to pound the bad. tracy: working hard as always. neil: you do not want me poolside. tracy: thanks for the cocktail. you need a pretty drink or something. ashley: we will leave on that. thank you, neil. stay right here with fox business. the full debate coverage with the clothed neil cavuto at 8:00 p.m. eastern tonight. tracy: we have breaking news. oil closing down. two days loss is the third straight day of decline. ashley: coming up, multimillion dollar settlement in the high-profile between -- and amc. tracy: let's take a look at your tent and 20 year treasuries.

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boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi® card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts. more events. more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with a citi card. [ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ] ♪ >> i am sandra smith with your fox business brief. shares of bp under pressure today.

there is a deal bp will get more than $17 billion in cash along with a nearly 13% stake in the company. shares of ancestry.com are climbing today after advisors announced they were buying the company for $1.6 million. 10% premiums and the stock's closing prices. nissan is recalling nearly 1,402,012-2013 all the must. two types of bolts may not have been properly torqued increasing the risk of a crash. that is the latest from the fox business network. giving you the power to prosper. ♪

tracy: dish network settling with cable vision and amc. walking dead and madmen -- that

is popular. they are back on . what prompted the peace making? dennis: walking dead just broke a basic record for viewers. one of the most bitter fights. now it is over. "walking dead" reborn last night. it returned to the dish network for the first time in several months. dish network which had yanked amc off of its service in july now agreeing to pay $700 million to amc and its former parent cablevision. i am told that 700 million will be handed over this week. it will be split 5050 with cablevision and amc. that will settle a $2.5 billion lawsuit that amc had filed against dish network over a separate matter.

here is a rare happy thing. all three major companies involved are trading up over 52 week highs today. dish network itself up about 2.2%. there you see 2.4. amc, it is up even higher today. of almost 3% for amc. cablevision, keeping between the green and red. iterated over a 5252 week high earlier today. the real winner today, though, amc. that deal was stuck in time for "walking dead" to get back on tonight for the second episode of the third season. we will find out tomorrow how that did. maybe it will get an even bigger

audience in the second episode now that dish network is back. tracy: you ssould just come to my house in the morning. i look like the walking dead. dennis kneale, thank you. [ laughter ] ashley: america and 55 and older not fading off into the sunset. guess what, they are working. their sector grew. accounting for them, expenses proving valuable and a host of industries. those 55 and older have a lower unemployment rate when they do lose their jobs it is 435 weeks compared to just 26 weeks for younger workers. finding a job is not so easy. tracy: because they -- ashley: have to.

tracy: and they don't go out drinking and smoking the night before. they are more reliable. [ laughter ] it is quarter ~ hour. time for stocks now as we do every 15 minutes. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole: do not talk to me. i go to bed at 8:30 p.m. let's take a look at bp you. one of the names we are following closely. first, let's talk about them. they came out with earnings that dropped. they did top the prior guidance. also, the revenue rose more than expected. we are seeing peabody rising. it is lifting the group overall. there has also been talk pertaining to the debate in early october where we heard that romney talking about the fact of how much you love cold. we see names like peabody energy up since they're -- 30%.

there is an upbeat view of the year. that is why we are seeing peabody energy as a winner. it is helping the s&p 500 as well. tracy: thank you. the dow is down 87 points. ashley: coming up, this is record drought did not harm pumpkin crops. it actually helped them. we will see jeff flock running around those plug-ins. that is next. tracy: let's take a look at some of today's winners and losers as we head out to break. apple regaining some of its losses. up 2.8%. we will be right back. ♪

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ashley: when is a farmer happy about a drought? when he is a pumpkin farmer. there will be no shortage of baking in the holiday kitchens. jeff flock is in the middle of a pumpkin patch. take it away, jeff. jeff: take a look at the size of these pumpkins. it is a little wet right now. the dry weather has really

helped the pumpkin harvest. tell me why that is. >> dry weather really helps pumpkins quite a that. jeff: the big danger to pumpkins is not so much dry weather, it is wet weather. it makes them rot. there you go. they can make a mess out of it. when you get the dry weather, which hurt your corn crop ? >> corn yields are down all over the place. ours was not too terrible this year. around 110-120, normally around 150 bushels an acre. jeff: this against a crop that did not do very well. this is a hedge for you. >> i can see you looking at it like that. [ laughter ] these are atlantic giants.

jeff: we have other jackal -- jack-o'-lantern type. isn't that something? wow. ashley: take that home with you, jeff. [ laughter ] just put it on your back. jeff flock. thank you so much. tracy: that is great. we carve them at my house. if our education system teaching students the right skills to match the needs of employers? 91% of american jobs have found some really interesting trends. joining us now john erickson and martin -- president of the workforce division. john, let's start with you. we are testing these kids. testing them to figure out what? what you get as a result? >> both, actually. we are looking at their

interests, goals, foundational skills and workplace skills. tracy: who is testing them? am i paying to have them tested the mac and k-12 sometimes it is the students and sometimes the schools. >> we study the results extensively. we determined in many cases there is a skills gap. we try to provide remediation for those students who may need that to improve their schools and for the employers to help understand what their skills are. tracy: for what jobs in particular? which jobs are there skills most needed him at the middle skills area. jobs that require education beyond high school. jobs that may require up to a two year degree or higher.

tracy: do they go and find training for this? >> employers can get it through college online classes and colleges. even at the k-12 level, the five testis careers have a severe gap between student and they are kind of communications computer information marketing and sales, education and it areas. tracy: it is all about tech. the problem with technology is it is so ever-changing. >> here is where we have a gap. the speed at where the -- the relevancy and currency of an

education is upgraded and changed rapidly to keep pace. tracy: what is the answer then? we change our school systems? we change the way we educate? >> they need to be stronger in their voice. education needs to align to that more closely. tracy: and they are not right now? >> not at all. once the report decides what it needs, whose responsibility is it to educate or offer those skills? should those kids have already had the training? >> it is a two-sided crime. you are right, it should be a shared responsibility. in today's market it needs to be both. tracy: what are we doing to get the word out? we are not educating our kids properly anymore. >> one of the effort we are seeing is community efforts.

the community colleges have become a training ground for the employers. there are pockets across the country where that is working quite well. tracy: we need more communication for our kids, that is for sure. john and martin, thank you so much for being here with us. ashley: all right. valuable information, that is for sure. liz claman will be next. find out how -- change in iran. tracy: "countdown to the closing bell" is next. do not go anywhere. ♪ 4g lte is the fastest.

so, which supeast 4g lte service would yochoose, based on this chart ? don't rush into it, i'm not looking for the fastest answer. obviously verizon. okay, i have a different chart. going that way, look at verizon. it's so much more than the other ones. so what if we just changed the format altogether ? isn't that the exact same thing ? it's pretty clear. still sticking with verizon. verizon. more 4g lte coverage than all other networks combined.

liz: good afternoon everybody. i'm liz claman. it is the last hour of trading. countdown to the closing bell begins right now -- right now. a very busy day.